Hi folks.
I'm new to this forum and have nothing to ask or contribute right now. Just introducing myself.
My name is Paul Clarke and I live in Ottawa. I used to live in a different city, but the amalgamation allowed me to move to Ottawa and keep my house ;-)
justcurious is the nick I use online because I'm pretty much curious about everything.
At 51 yrs old, I'm a married SINK. I used to be a DINK, but my wife isn't working right now. That doesn't stop her from calling me a DINK sometimes though :-(
In the early 90's I did a lot of kit brewing and was constantly trying to find something that was better than just "drinkable". I didn't have a computer at home then and my research/reading was limited to TCJOHB and other books that were probably 10 to 20 yrs old at the time. I eventually abandoned the quest.
Around this time last year ( winter 2003 ), I stumbled across a home brew website. Not sure which one it was now, but my interest was rekindled. I eventually discovered bodensatz.com and found a great group of friendly home brewers. I have to admit, I posted my first couple of kit related comments and questions with a little trepidation. I half expected to be flamed by this group of experienced all grain brewers. But I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted with helpful responses and advice.
After a couple of kit brews, I realized that that aspect of the craft hasn't improved much over the past ten years. I decided if I'm going to get back into this hobby for the long haul, I better get into partial mash or all grain brews. After reading about batch sparging, I decided to skip the partial mash and go straight to all grain.
Although I look at all of the fancy setups that a lot of you guys have posted on the Web with envy, I don't have the room or the budget for all of that. No RIMS and pumps and kegorators for me right now. Everything is simple here, but I'm happy with the results of my 10 or so all grain batches.
Right now I'm not into brewing up a wide variety of beers that are "true to style" or unique. I'm just interested in fine tuning a good, basic, cheap ale recipe that will be close to consistent from brew to brew and my friends and family will enjoy without saying "yep, tastes like a home brew".
That's it for now. Merry Christmas or, if you prefer, Happy Holidays.
http://barleyment.wort.ca/article.php?story=20041219123555513